The Lower House Wednesday approved a record ¥97.71 trillion ($912 billion) budget for fiscal 2018, ensuring its enactment before the new fiscal year starts on April 1.
About a third of the total, or ¥32.97 trillion, is earmarked for social security spending amid the graying ...

The Netherlands' highest court on Wednesday awarded a royal name and title to the illegitimate son of the Dutch king's cousin, ending a bitter father-son battle that has mesmerized royal watchers.
The dispute saw Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parme, 48, taking the Dutch justice ...

Has Donald Trump really been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize? The Norwegian Nobel Institute said Wednesday it had filed a police report after receiving a seemingly fraudulent nomination for the U.S. president.
"We have good reason to believe that a nomination we received concerning ...

A second arrest warrant was served Wednesday for an American man already in custody in connection with a human head and other body parts discovered in Osaka and Kyoto prefectures, police said.
The man, Yevgeniy Vasilievich Bayraktar, was re-arrested on suspicion of abandoning the body ...

A group of terror attack survivors and traumatized relatives of those killed boycotted Indonesia's first-ever meeting between former militants and their victims Wednesday, marring an event hailed as a key step toward reconciliation.
The government-hosted talks brought together 124 people convicted of terror-related crimes and ...

Mexican boxer Luis Nery has been stripped of his WBC bantamweight title after failing to make weight Wednesday ahead of his match against challenger Shinsuke Yamanaka.
While Yamanaka passed his pre-fight weigh-in for Thursday's match at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Nery weighed in at 55.8 kg — ...

An employee with a subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. testified in court Wednesday that the unit reported a need to install tide barriers to prevent flooding from a tsunami well before the March 2011 nuclear accident at Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 ...

Local authorities reopened a crater area of Mount Aso on Wednesday to tourists for the first time in over three years following diminished volcanic activity and the installation of safety measures.
The crater on the 1,592-meter active volcano had been one of the most popular ...

Tokyo 2020 organizers unveiled Wednesday the official mascots for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, based on a futuristic vision of the world with the two characters decked out in traditional blue-checkered and a pink cherry-blossom-theme attire, respectively.
"(These designs) embody tradition, the future, cuteness and ...

Japanese judoka Aaron Wolf will sit out the national invitational weight class championships in April due to a lingering left knee injury, the All Japan Judo Federation said Wednesday.
Takaya Yamaguchi will replace Wolf, the reigning men's 100-kg division world champion, in the April 7-8 ...

President Donald Trump's longtime aide Hope Hicks is declining to answer questions about her time in the White House in a closed-door interview with the House intelligence committee.
The panel is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and any contacts between Trump's campaign and ...

North Korea sent items used in ballistic missile and chemical weapons programs to Syria along with missile technicians in violation of U.N. sanctions, and also sent banned ballistic missile systems to Myanmar, U.N. experts said.
The panel of experts monitoring sanctions against North Korea said ...

Hotel and inn stays by overseas tourists rose 12.4 percent from a year earlier to a record high of 78 million, reflecting robust demand in rural areas, the Japan Tourism Agency said Wednesday.
Visitor stays are estimated by multiplying the number of visitors by days ...

Gonzaga University forward Rui Hachimura was named to the All-West Coast Conference First Team for the first time on Tuesday.
The Japan-born player was one of 10 players on the conference's men's all-star team, along with Gonzaga teammates Johnathan Williams (senior forward) and Josh Perkins ...

That stretch in the evenings and the plum blossoms in bloom means just one thing to sumo fans — it's time for the Osaka Basho.
With a historical propensity for surprising outcomes, the meet has acquired the nickname 'Areru Haru Basho' or 'Turbulent Spring Tournament.'
It's ...

Choe Son Hui, director general of the North American department at the North Korean Foreign Ministry, has been promoted to a vice ministerial position, a U.S.-based news site reported Wednesday.
NK News, which provides news and analysis about North Korea, said the promotion was confirmed ...

Teru Fukui, the new state minister in charge of Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, apologized Wednesday for wrongly pronouncing the name of one of the four islands at the center of a territorial dispute with Russia.
During a Tuesday night news conference following his appointment ...

A team of researchers said Tuesday that it has created a more comprehensive map showing the universe's dark matter distribution by using a camera on Japan's Subaru Telescope in Hawaii.
The map covers a wider area and features a higher resolution than any other similar ...